In China, the researchers plan to publish artificial skin using 3D printer to transplant it to people, for example, suffered from burns. The development is carried out at the Institute of the Burns Institute at the Southwest Hospital in Chongqing. The researchers reported that the result can be achieved in 2-3 years. Now they are testing the method by using pig skin.

Director of the Institute Wu Jun said that the most difficult is to create appropriate “ink” printing the skin. They need to find a suitable material, then to give it a particular shape – and it should not lose the desired properties. Solid implants are printed for a long time, including the replacement of the spine – in June, the Chinese suffering from cancer had replaced 5 vertebrae tp the 3D-replica. But the skin is very flexible and pliable material, which makes the printing a non-trivial task. Wu Jun noted that now not only chinese researchers are working on the skin, so his team will make every effort to be the first in this “competition”.

The main purpose of Wu Jun and his colleagues is to create an artificial skin for patients with severe burns, and in each case printed skin must be suitable to a specific person, taking into account the injuries. Director of the Burns Institute, said that, despite the frequent use of 3D-printing in surgery, it will take several years before you can print the living tissues or organs. It is known that some researchers could create tissue samples in vitro, but this is not enough, it is also necessary that these living tissues will function, and further can be used in medicine.